Chapter 30 Nowhere to hide
Ferguson and Opula lay in bed. Opula was thinking hard; she would lure him into making love to her and she would shoot him in the throat and it would be a done deal. Earlier when they got on the ship Nathan had informed them the ship was traveling at 11:45 PM and he made it possible because of them. The cabin was his personal cabin which had a secret lock. Although Ferguson had complained about the secret lock which only Nathan had access to, he knew in few days they would be free. Nathan kept them busy with a loaf of bread and Chinese soup. Ferguson was famished yet he refused the meal. He trusted no one now. Nathan could poison them. Opula also rejected the food and requested for a jacket instead. Both of them suspected Nathan of anything evil. Ferguson suspected Nathan and Opula of ruin. The dream roamed in his mind. The words of the Voodoo Chief Priest still stood in his head. Take a deep breath and listen to your heart. Money doesn’t fall in love. In the pursuit for money love is scarce and in the kingdom of money love is the queen. He wrapped his hand around the laptop bag and checked if his pistol was in place.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
When Nathan left them, he walked into a closet and murmured, “They escaped this one.” He poured the food into the closet and flushed. It was drugged with sleeping pills. He kept wondering what was keeping the police. They had delayed. It wasn’t their plan.
“Do you care?” She offered him a cup of coffee which she was making at the table. She sipped hers.
He shook his head and looked at his wrist watch. “This is past nine. We have barely two hours to leave this coast. I will beseech Nathan to make it possible at ten,” he said, walked to the window and saw Nathan and a naval soldier at the upper floor; their heads together, their back to their cabin. Shit, they must be discussing us. What else if not us. How could you, Nathan, he thought and pulled out his gun. When he turned, Opula was naked, her thick backside to him. “Not now, Opula,” he whispered, and swallowed hard when she faced him with her hairy vagina.
Azuaka Jnr. wasn’t done crying. He woke up in the bush this morning to meet Agu in his corpse; his ribs shrunk and all dried up, his eyeballs opened and staring. His body wavered to continue and scared to stay back. The birds overhead whistled and perched on trees, whistling to him their condolences. He made reach to the leaves of cocoyam and plantain which he used to cover the corpse. Before he walked away, some group of evil-bereaved vultures clapped their feathers in the sky and descended for a communion. But Azuaka Jnr. chased them away and they flew only to reappear when he turned his back to walk away. He chased them away five more times and finally gave up on the chase. On his way, he wondered where he was going in the shadow of a thick forest. His feet crawled behind him unable to lift his body. The night met him on his search for oranges on an orange tree and he slept on it when he found none.
At dawn he saw his pistol on the ground, a squirrel practicing target and shoot with it. He pounced on his feet and the rodent ran away. He picked it, dusted it and dug into his waist. He staggered and fell on the ground. His eyes rolled as he bit his lips, pleading for death when his memory told him he hadn’t eaten for three days. This forest will be safer since I have lost my way. I wish I could get an unripe orange, he thought. He plucked the leaves of a bitter leaf plant and chewed and it tasted sweet in his hungry stomach. He dropped to the ground, rubbed his stomach and rolled on the ground. He could remember a lot; he could recall that the next day was Agu’s birthday; that they wouldn’t be selling the software anymore much less explore; that they wouldn’t be rendering the world broke as planned; that he lost his father in the middle of it all. He could remember a lot more. He raised his head to the sky as tears trickled down his dried cheeks. He looked down to his hands and they were convulsing.
There was heavy siren outside and Ferguson pulled his gun before advancing to the window. He could see no one except naval officers patrolling the ship and talking to one another.
Bang!
“Who are they?” Opula asked, dressing up. Ferguson never touched her and she wished she hadn’t disgraced herself in such manner. She was naked for him and all he could do was stare and smoke into the night.
“I don’t know,” he whispered.
After a few minutes there was a knock on the door. “Shush,” he gestured to her, pulled his gun, sneaked to the door. Two people must go down before me, he thought, and peeped through the hole to see Nathan. I don’t understand him anymore. I don’t know what he is up to; he thought and opened the door.
“The commanding officer just arrived,” said Nathan as he got in. “There is a change of plan.” He said and Ferguson breathed hard and frowned, staring at him in anticipation. “They got scary information about some pirates in the west coast. If we travel by night we may clash and lose lives so the departure time has been rescheduled at 4:o’ clock AM,” he said and sat down to smoke.
Ferguson punched into his palm. “What tha fuck!” he exclaimed. “You know we are wanted. If we waste anymore time here we stand risk of being arrested. Please you can do something to get us out of here, sneak us out or something.” He held Nathan on the shoulder. “I owe you my life if we survive this.” His eyes held fire.
He reasoned briefly before he asked, “But why are you being wanted? You have been a cool ass ever since I knew you. What happened to your cool ass?” he asked, admiring Opula and seeing himself between her naked thighs before the police arrived.
What is this fool asking now? I am not going to tell you about this software, he thought. “It is just blackmail. That is all I can say. Enemies.”
“Enemies, what are you doing in Lagos in the first place?” he asked and walked to the shelf to pour himself brandy.
What do I tell this asshole now? “I am here for business but was blackmailed.”
“And the pretty woman, who is she?” I’m going to fuck her tonight.
“She is my woman.” He looked at Opula and Opula blushed and threw her stare to the wall.
How fortunate bitches could be, Ferguson thought
I don’t care if she is your mother. I am going to have her tonight before your arrest, he thought. She is not on the wanted list. Say Ferguson is arrested or killed tonight I will keep her.
Ferguson was restless and red so the moment he went to the shelf to fetch brandy to calm his nerves, Nathan scribbled: See Me At Floor 5, and tossed at her. She picked it and squeezed into her palms.
“Ok, Ferg, I’ll be in my duty post. See you tomorrow at your escape. Cheers.” he gulped the brandy and dropped the mug and left.
Opula appeared on floor 5 and met Nathan swimming. “Hi, Nathan.”
“Oh, pretty, you finally proved to me not every woman is a bitch,” he said and swam out of the pool. He dried his body with a towel. “Let’s go into the cabin. He led her. “What do you care to have?”
“Nothing. I am cool.”
Evil knocked on the door…