Bitch

Episode 40

It was all Henry’s idea. Zainab didn’t like it at
first and she even suggested the called the
police but after convincing her, she had a
rethink and decided to play along.

The time was about 9PM when Mr. Dayo
called again. Zainab didn’t even let it ring for
more than a second before she grabbed the
phone, picked the call and put it on loud
speaker for both Henry and her to hear.

“Hello,” she said.

“I’m going to be very blunt and straight to the point.” Mr Dayo replied almost immediately.

“I’m listening.”

“Good. If you ever want to see your brother
again, you’ll have to pay ten million naira in
CASH because I don’t think bank transactions
would be safe for this kind of operation.”

To his greatest surprise, all Zainab replied
was, “when, where and how do you want me to send the money?”

“Ah! I like you already. Straight to the point
just like me.” Mr Dayo complemented.

“Anyway, divide it into three equal parts and
put it in three different different bags, I’ll call
you later on tonight for further details. If you
play your cards well, you’ll have your brother
in your arms by ten AM maximum tomorrow
morning… You have my word.” With that, Mr
Dayo hung up before Zainab could reply, not
like she had anything to reply though.

Henry looked at Zainab and asked, “how much
do you readily have?”

“About three million, although I’m supposed to pay in two million of that sum into TOP
account tomorrow morning.”

“Okay, that’s good enough. You are a rich
woman oh! If I had know that, maybe I would
have planned an exclusively expensive dinner
instead of trying to cook out of my ‘Henry’s
super cook book’.” He ended his statement
with a wide grin.

For a second, Zainab smiled but the smile
faded almost as quick as it came. “Do you
joke every time? Asin, why don’t you take
anything serious?” She asked.

“See… A wise man once said: if life shows you
pepper, take it and make pepper soup. What
I’m trying to say in essence is, life shouldn’t
be taken too serious, that way, nothing would
be able to surprise you.”

Zainab sighed in response, her brother was in
the arms of kidnappers who might be get
vicious and attempt to do drastic things but
here Henry was, blabbing something about
pepper and pepper soup.

Henry saw her reaction to his little speech and
then finally spoke up, “okay, go and bring the
three million you have, don’t worry about the
bags, I’ll handle that.”

“What happens after that?”

“We wait.”

@@@@@

John still had it in him, or so it seemed.

Jummy had always known him to be a very
romantic person and so far so good, he had
proved her right.

Few minutes ago, John had parked his beat-
up beatle at the front of the ten story GNP
building, then lead the way into the building
through the back.

The security guards who all had suspicious
smiles on their faces just waved as they
passed by.

“What are we doing here?” Jummy asked.

“Just follow my lead and trust me.” John
replied.

“You realize this GNP… Asin where I work
right?”

“Yup… That why I even brought you here.”

“But you know that…”

“That you need to shut up and just follow my
lead.” John cut in.

Jummy kept quiet until the got to the back of
the building and watched John climb the fire
escape.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Climbing a tree,” he replied sarcastically.

“Well, I’m not climbing that tree with you.”

“Why do you complain so much?” John asked.

“Say what ever you like,
I.AM.NOT.CLIMBING.THIS.THING.WITH.YOU.

Full stop!!!” Jummy yelled… Few minutes later,
she was climbing it, John had his ways.

When they got to the top, Jummy started
complaining about how much her legs ached
before she rose her head and saw what was at
her front.

A table clothed with a red table cloth and two
chairs placed at both sides rested comfortably
on the carpet which had the words: I LOVE
YOU, written all over it. Rose flowers were
littered all around the table and a candle was
lit and placed at the middle of the table.

Jummy was blown away.

“Shall we?” John asked seeing Jummy’s
reaction
“Yes… We most definitely shall.” She replied
and offered her hand for John to lead the way.

The table was still empty and for a moment,
Jummy wondered if they were meant to eat
the candle and table cloth but just as she
smiled at the naughty thought, two people
appeared from nowhere with one holding a
huge tray with Jummy’s favorite delicacy and
the other holding a bottle of red wine and two
cups… Viola! Dinner was served.

“Perfect.” Jummy murmured inaudibly.

@@@@@

Taofeek heard foot steps just right outside the
door and could also hear two people speak
but couldn’t quite make out what they were
saying.

He tried to survey his environment but it was
a pointless idea. He had seen all he needed to
see: a chair, a light bulb, a bucket.

By this time, he was fully aware of his
situation. He had been kidnapped by an IT
company, or fake IT company as it now
seemed and they had made contact with his
sister, what he didn’t know was how much
was requested as ransom and what was going
to happen to him next.

Suddenly, the door sprung open and two
people walked in. He recognized one as Mr
Dayo but the other was new to him.

Without saying any word, the other person
walked up to Taofeek and after looking at him
for a while then turned back to Mr Dayo and
asked, “is this him?”

“Yes… It’s him.”

“Oh! I see… And you are sure he is the one?”

“Very sure.”

“Okay then, let’s get this over with. Hold him
down.”

Mr Dayo walked over and held Taofeek while
the other person picked up a suitcase Taofeek
hadn’t noticed was there before, he placed it
on the table and opened it.

Taofeek couldn’t see the contents, but the
look on the man’s eye, told Taofeek nothing
favorable could come out from it.