FEMI

  Back in my house, I waited for Second and his team to show. But the waits had progressed into the night, yet nothing. I dialed his number again, it rang out without an answer.
When the lights went off, I strolled out of my house and stood at the gate.

Streams of people kept walking back and forth to their destinations. It reminded me of a book in the bible Ecclesiastes. It was one of my most read books in the world. Its wisdom is deep and factual.
I reminisced on its lecture about time and seasons in my head while I waited for any sign from the gang.

         After an hour wait, the Nigerian power authority decided to restore the electricity. Nara was now home.
I didn't see her walk through the front gate but I also knew she loved using the back gate a lot.
From my view, she paced around the room searching for nothing. Then I understood she was angry and maybe didn't want to talk about it.

           "Nara?" I called.

She turned and faced me. "What? What is it?"

I eased myself on my favorite chair by the window. "What's eating you up?"

My wife scowled at me, then hissed and walked away. As soon as she was gone, I relaxed on the two seater couch to stretch my legs. Like the wind, she returned and searched my face.
            "Why exactly were you at Adrian's church?"

My eyes squinted to get a better view of her face. "I went to church. Is that now a crime?"
Her head stiffened while her jaw clenched. "You dare lie to me Femi?" She pointed at me.

"You dare lie?"

I braced back into the couch, my body now in a sitting position. "Nara, please not now. I don't have energy to fight."

Her laughter filled the room with terror. Yes, I knew whom I married.
I moved even further back into the couch, almost melting into it. "You already know who I am Femi. You know that I know you better than anyone. So please tell me you were not part of that robbery at Adrian's church!"

         With my eyes shut and my mouth shut as well, I waited for her to do her normal. But she didn't touch me.
When I felt her shadow leave, I opened my eyes and took a long deep breath. Then my Phone buzzed and I took that opportunity to leave the house.

                                                                     ******

I met the guys in an open local football field. Second stood with Dagger and the rest of the boys.
We exchanged pleasantries and got into the deal. I was handed a small bag filled with bundles of Naira notes.

          "Four million." Second touched the bridge of his nose and glanced at me. "That's your cut."

My head lifted to face him. He was sitting on the upper part of the two step bench, smoking a wrap of weed. I sat on the lower one.

        "But you made more than this." I dangled the bag of money in his face. "Not to talk of the P.O.S payments."

I saw his jaw tighten and his eyes stern. "And what did you do when the operation was going on?" He puffed the smoke in my face.

The money on my hand almost fell off at his rigid countenance. His boys took positions around me as though they were preparing to use me for a beating workout.

        "You can't talk?" Second shouted. "We did the work and now, you want the lion share. You dey mad!" He punched the air.

I flashed an angry gaze at him before standing to square off with his men. I was once like them and still have some guys on payroll. Just one click and this would be an all out gang war.
But then I thought of my family, my children. I relaxed and eased myself back on the bench.

With a polite voice, I began to air my grievances. " This money here is wrong. You cheated me out of a job I brought to you and even gave you every detail you used in executing it."

I raised my index finger in the air. "That's number one. Next was your blatant betrayal."

           Second jumped out of his seat and rounded the area in an attempt to intimidate me.
His puffing and jumping had no power or effect over me. I came to speak and no one dared stop me.

          "When you are done with crisscrossing the field, please come and sit down so I can put everything on the table."

My head shook in amusement as his boys tried to calm him. Minutes later he yelled at me. "Speak! Lets get this over with!"

              "What happened after you got to Adrian?" I asked, not wasting my time or theirs.

His guys exchanged unpleasant glances with each other. Dagger had his fingers on his beards while pulling on it gently, his head tilted to one side. He was still on the bench, observing the situation.
Second came to stand in my face. His knees inches away from mine. From my sitting position, I tossed my face in the air to meet his deadly gaze.

         "Since you are looking for answers, you'll get one." He huffed. "Yes, we went to the house. The empty one as we agreed."

        My lips produced a very scanty smile. The kind that tells your opponent you know more that what he was hiding.
        Pulling my head down a bit, I moved my body away from his, still seating on the same lower part of the bench.

           "You were not at that place." I pointed at him. "You took him to your own house where you served him food and all of you merried like you just married a new wife!" I angrily Stumped to my feet. My nose flared with rage.

These were same guys whom I worked honestly with, and they turned around to short change me.

          Gasps and murmurings filled the open field. Some of his guys turned away from us. Others wiped their foreheads nervously, while the rest  stared hard at me.
They had just given me the answer I was searching for before I could even make my demands.

Second's face fell. He plowed away from me and took the rocky stone seat opposite me. His face searching for nothing on the floor.

Armed with victory, I turned the tables and stood at the center of the men who were planning to kick my ass a minute ago. "Now my question is, how much did Adrian pay you?"

           "Men!" Dagger gasped.

I chuckled hard in my head. The conspiracy was getting bigger than I imagined. Something sinister was going on.
Second hasn't lifted his head since I took the center stage.

          "Or are you now working for him?"

         One of the boys swirled around and glared at me in disgust. "Guy, stop this na!" He complained with his hands on his sides.
My head was now on fire. I laughed at the possibility that Second and his gang would work for a man of God. A preacher of the gospel. That Adrian could even stoop so low to facilitate with men of guns?..... No that wasn't possible.

       I wiped the sweat on my head with my palm, and wiped the water on my blue Jean pants. My head started nodding as the realization hit me.

             "You all now work for him." I concluded.

The men stayed silent. I couldn't believe it. That Adrian was becoming a magnate. So sticky that anyone who came close to him starts dancing to his tune.
Seeing that they were not ready to speak. I took the four million and left. My battle was not with the gang boys but with Adrian. And from now on, I'd prefer to deal with him directly.

         I walked briskly to a narrow path from the local field when I heard thumping footsteps. I stopped and looked around. There was no one.
So I continued to walk, whistling as I made it halfway to the bushy path. Then hands, multiple thick hands came down heavily on me. I felt the shove and the kicks come down repeatedly on my body.

By the time I realized myself, I was in the pool of my own blood.
Luckily for me I heard someone shout. "The are going to kill him!" It was the voice of a child, maybe around seven or eight.

Another set of boots ran towards me and someone lifted my head. "He's bruised badly." It said.
             "Go! I'll take care of him. They are over there!" A male voice said.
             "Where?" Another person asked.
            "They towards to the main road."  The previous person answered.
  Commotion of thumping Footsteps filled my hearing. It was so loud my head pounded in retaliation.
Quick pin prick pain ricocheted through my body. Everything and everywhere in my body hurt. I yelped at every hand that tried to touch me.
Slowly they lifted me and walked away. I woke in a shack. Old posters graced the wooden walls, while card boards were used as window blinds.
The floor had disorganized planks and woods for flooring. It creaked with each movement I made.
A bamboo bed cradled my body. I winced as pain formatted my mind to reality.

         "Where? Where am I?" I asked weakly. Leaves and tree stunk laced my body side by side and an old cloth held them in place.
         "Lay back down, please." A hand caressed my head gently. An older woman's gaze met mine. She smiled wearily.
I blinked away tears from the pain at my sides. "Where am I?" I asked. She nodded and called out some one to come.
A younger man stood above me. "You were beaten. We didn't know where to take you so we brought you here. This is my grandmother," She's a traditional healer, she's been taking care of your for two days."
            "Thank you." I mouthed to the woman. She gracefully showed me her toothless mouth. I watched her leave the thatched room.

Pointing to the young man. "My phone, did you see it?"
He nodded quickly and rushed to the corner of the room. He Fished out my phone from the bag of money. "We found your phone on the floor and this."
He showed me the money filled bag. I looked into it and stared back at the boy in shock. "He raised his hands in a known expression.  "We didn't touch it. Everything is here." I glanced at him again, and tears ran down my face.

Here were a group of settlers who didn't have money to live in a good house, yet they didn't touch four million Naira. Even when they had the most need for it.
          "Thank you!" I mouthed to the young man. "What's your name?" I asked as he turned to leave.
          "Isa." He answered.
          "Isa." I repeated. "Please help me call my wife. Tell her I am fine. " The boy glared at me in surprise. "That you are fine? But you are not." He accused.

More tears poured out of my eyes and  dripped on the bamboo bed.
            "Just tell her that."
Isa scrolled through the Phone until he found 'My wife'. He showed me the screen before he dialed it.
After he spoke to Nara, he smiled. "She wanted me to tell you that 'walka walka will definitely come home some day'." I chuckled. I knew at that moment that he did really speak to Nara.
We spent time talking about my few days in their house and who they were. When his entire family got into the room to pray with me, I was pleasantly surprised. His grandmother spoke first.
          "Isaac, pray!"
The boy prayed earnestly from his heart that his hunger deflated me. The next day i was a lot better. I gave the family a million from the money in my bag. They were so happy that their happiness broke my heart.
After saying our goodbyes I went home to my family and Nara.