I apologize for the somewhat unexpected hiatus, an update in a bit.

CHAPTER FOUR: A passing glance at my wristwatch told me that it was a few minutes to seven and i felt a blood vessel begin to pulse behind my eyelids, a tell tale sign that my irritation was beginning to rise. Just as i was beginning to contemplate moving on to my next assignment, the bright rays of a halogen bulbed headlight came into view from the distance. I guess even the state director of the DSS wasn't above african time. I lit a cigarette, idly noting that i had only four sticks of tobacco left, and lit it. I couldn't afford to lose my cool when dealing with these intelligence agency types, the fact that i held all the cards didn't give me license to get too cocky or flare up at their laxness. The headlights came to a stop a few feet before me...

I couldn't tell the make of the vehicle (i didn't exactly care), the back door swung open cautiously, a dark man on equally dark shades stepped down and swung the door shut. He approached me gingerly, sweeping his head from left to right in an awkwardly stiff motion and i stifled a derisive snort at the silly attempt at a perimeter sweep being put in display before me. The african james bond nodded to himself, before giving an exaggerated signal to the occupants of the vehicle. The director himself stepped out of the tinted vehicle, and even though i didn't hear it i imagined that he grunted in conjuction with his heaving pot belly that jiggled as he stepped out of the vehicle. Another man stepped out of the vehicle, and the trio approached me with hardened expressions on their faces. Sensing an opportunity to irritate them (they had wasted my time after all), i ignored them for a whole minute (i kept count), breaking the ice as i lit another stick of tobacco, "who wears sunglasses by this time of the day?"

A beat of confused silence descended on them and i hid a smile behind my palms at their beffudled expressions. Shaking off his confusion, the director began to speak, "I expected to see chief...". I didn't let him finish, "Let's be done with this already. Enough with the faux pleasantries, i have things to do and places to be. Do you have the funds?". I could tell that he didn't appreciate being cut off, but he nodded and waved a signal at the vehicle. Another occupant of the vehicle stepped out with a light blue ghana must go bag, covering the distance and dropping the bag in the space between us before walking back to join the trio. The director grunted, "Your price, as agreed". I gave him a pointed stare, feeling more than offended that after all this time, he still thought me a novice in this game, "Open it" my tone was icy, and with an irritated huff, the director nodded at the newcomer. The newcomer gingerly hefted the bag back to the vehicle and placed it in the trunk, he returned with yet another bag.

I rolled my eyes at the pathetic attempt to push my off button, i repeated my initial request "Open it". The goon had no problem complying this time around. As the dragging sound of a zipper being pulled reached my ears, the director gave me a serpentine smile, "good to see that your instincts are as sharp as ever" he commended lightly. "And good to see..." i retorted, flicking away the stub of my last cigarette and fixing him with my trademark unimpressed stare, "... That you're enough of an amateur to think i would fall for the classic parcel bomb trick". A vein on his forehead popped up and throbbed in aggravation filling me withe slight satisfaction. A quick glance at the opened bag filled my visual sensory receptors with rows and columns of neatly stacked 500 naira notes and i didn't need to count it to know that it was complete. An amateur he might have been, but even he wouldn't make a mistake like that... Well, at least i hoped he was smart enough not to.

I snatched up the bag, not bothering to zip it up, and hurriedly put it in the trunk. I might've been talking tough and blustering with full confidence, but i didn't trust my present company not to put a bullet in the back of my head, detrimental to their situation as that might've been. Spite could be a powerful emotion after all. As i made to leave, the directors baritone voice gave me pause, "How much longer will these 'meetings' of ours have to go on?". I gave him a wide smile (a rare occurence, one i usually reserved for humbling people with threats).

"You don't have to sound so distressed..." my tone was mockingly soothing, "... Chief always keeps his promises, one more installment and you get to walk away from this hole you dug yourself with no further threats". I didn't wait a second longer for a response, in a flash i was in my vehicle and the next i was speeding off to join the highway. The game of blackmail was to sensitive to afford one the pleasure of enjoying his victims emotional turmoil, treating with a detached, matter of fact approach was my preferred system as it was the (statistically) proven method that ensured i got the money without having to exchange bullets with a victim.

I kept maintained a speed on the moderately higher side, the day had been as exhausting as it had been fruitful, but i still had one more thing to do. I checked my time, my next assignment would be taking me to the outskirts of town and a tad closer to my village... Maybe if i couldn't make it back today, i could crash at my family home. Lord knows i needed time away from the urban hustle and bustle.

CHAPTER FIVE: As i suspected, my final task had seen me stay outdoors till the late hours of past eleven. The drive down to my fathers house wasn't a particularly long one, in a total of 35 minutes i was already knocking on the decorated iron door that served as the central entrance to my father's house. Sometime last year, i had offered to erect a fence around the premises, but he had shot the idea down and i had to settle for changing the wooden doors to iron. It didn't mean that i wouldn't keep pestering him till he caved to my demands. The door swung open a bit and a single eyeball peered at me, before swinging open with full force as i was hugged (more like tackled) by my younger sister. I hushed her excited squeals and bushed a few 500 naira wads to make her more compliant. With a conspiratory smile, she guided me to my old room and giddily bid me goodnight. I silently shut the door, i would deal with the rest of my family in the morning, but for now the allure of sleep was too strong to be ignored.

Daybreak came quickly and suddenly, only the years of discipline gave me the required strength to arise from my unmade mattress and put on my clothes. I had made a silly error last night by not calling Chief last night to inform him on my whereabouts and my battery was dead, i needed to get back to the villa asap. Shutting the door behind me. I knocked on the door opposite mine... No response. Looks like Fortune (my junior brother) was still in school. Putting the thought aside i made my way to my younger sister's room. She opened the door before i could knock. "You're leaving? You just got here nau" needless to say, she didn't sound thrilled at my planned departure. I gave her an apologetic smile (and a few N500 bills just in case), "sorry about that Kate, this wasn't a visit. I just needed a place to crash and i didn't want to spend money on a hotel" i placated. She nodded reluctantly, "Mummy isn't up yet, daddy is in bathroom". I planned my escape route with the provided intel and was off.

Make una no carry vex pour me spit abeg. Incoming update

I fought down the urge to slam my head repeatedly against my steering wheel in frustration amidst the metallic grating sounds of the gate being opened. It was a few minutes past ten in the morning and chances were, chief was either drunk or doped up on his diminishing supply of white powder. I parked and got out of the vehicle, thoughts of chief going off on an intoxicated tirade on me plaguing my thoughts as i crossed the front door and headed up the stairs to chiefs study. Bracing myself, i gave three systematic raps on the door and waited, shoulders squared, jaws set and my face devoid of all traces of the internal nervousness i felt.

A muffled sound of affirmation filtered through the aesthetically pleasing oak double doors of the study and i walked in. Chief sat on his chair, nose clean, table clean and the room devoid of its trademark early morning brewery/cigar smell, much to my befuddlement. An unfamiliar figure sat before him and instinctively, my hand went to the waistband of my trousers and hovered over the grip of the concealed weapon underneath. Both chief and the stranger turned to look at me as one, and an unfamiliar expression briefly flitted across chiefs face before he quickly schooled his features. The stranger gave me an appraising once over, turning to chief once he was done, "Your son?"

Chief shook his head stiffly and by that singular motion i took note of his well hidden discomfort. "No. He's my... Second". An unspoken conversation passed between the two men as they stared at each other for some tense seconds that seemed like ages. Before the man smiled patronizingly, more like a reptillian contortion of his face, and got up. Idly, i took note of his expensive looking suit and his neat looking designer shoes. He spoke up again, much softlier than before, "You should bring him around sometime... Introduce him to the family" with that and a merry wave directed at me, he was gone. The study was enveloped in a void-like silence, a silence which i broke by clearing my throat of a nonexistent snot blockage and wordlessly dropping a pouch of white powder on chief's study desk. That seemed to rouse him from his troubled silence and he gave me a wan smile, "Where have you been?"

Before I got about answering the heavily loaded question thrown my way, I made a show of slowly and methodically making my way to the table, then dropping two pouches of Ziploc encased white powder before him.
His eyes brightened on sighting the product but he made no move to avert his piercing gaze from me neither to retrieve the powder on the desk.
With a defeated shrug and the awareness that I wouldn’t be able to wiggle my way out of this one by distracting Chief, I began to narrate my activities the day before.
I droned for a steady twenty-five minutes, mentally selecting my words and physically stating them in such a manner that they accurately portrayed everything in that it would be nigh impossible for him to confuse my words.
I eventually tapered off into silence, my report given and awaiting any further remarks from him.
He maintained the silence for a bit (wordlessly and subtly placing the two pouches of cocaine in one of his drawers), before breaking the silence with a slight clearing of his throat.
“And the money?”
“I dispersed them into five different front accounts before arriving here sir”
He nodded, his earlier stormy expression gone, and pulled out a bottle of London dry gin (I idly noted that this one was full… looks like he was done draining the previous one” and lightly dusted off the slight percolation of dust that had gathered over the amber liquor bottle in a thin film.
He gave me an asking look, “Care to share a drink with me?”
I mulled over the thought carefully, I figured that some liquor would do me some good and considering the intensity of my tasks yesterday, I doubted chief would give me anything strenuous to handle today… but I was no stranger to the fact that emergencies can and usually will pop up at the most inopportune of times.
And by ‘inopportune of times’ I mean me being drunkenly passed out from having one too many shots of spirit.
My decision was made in seconds, I took the offered glass from Chief’s already stretched out hand and poured myself a half full glass of glistening colourless liquor and gulped the whole thing down by the mouthful in successive bursts of gulping.
Chief’s eyebrows rose, almost reaching his practically nonexistent hair line, as I reached for a few mentholated candies and chewing gums on the confectionary filled tray smack dab in the centre of his table.
“Why the rush?”
“I need to freshen up and get ready for the day sir”
He gave me a look, yet another familiar look beginning to bubble and writhe in his dark eyes before he nodded (almost reluctantly), “We’ll talk more later then”
I bowed my head slightly, a wordless gesture of respect, and made for the door,
As I felt my digits curl around the cold metallic handle of the double doors, Chief’s voice made me pause and promptly turn around to give him my full attention.
“… I said, my daughter was looking for you last night she seemed upset…” he left his voice hanging, an unspoken question lilting about in his tone.
I kept my face void of expression, “I’ll see her right away sir”
He nodded and opened his drawer, no doubt to get on with arranging his lines of white, and I took that as my cue to leave.
As I shut the door behind me, I cringed internally, dealing with Ifeoma sometimes could be a chore and other times could be an outright milestone to cross.
Lord knows what her issues was at the moment, but I might as well get on with finding her and hearing from her.
Looks like today was kicking off to be a stimulating one for me

Chapter Five is done and dusted, any and all feedback would be appreciated and cherished at this point in time. Feel free to let me know how you think I can give you a better reading experience

You are doing great,but the pace you are going is a bit slow.

Once the update keeps coming slow and short,most readers get disinterested in the project.

Thanks for the update.

Nice...keep em coming

CHAPTER SIX

Finding ifeoma was a skill that I had become a bit adept at. All I needed to do was to follow the scent of burning pawpaw.
I had made it a point of duty not to exchange contact information with her, to avoid being on the recieving end of certain unwanted communication attempts.
I got to her favourite spot, under the unused water tank, and she was in the middle of rolling another blunt when i announced my presence with an exaggerated cough. She gave me a catlike stare, briefly, before going back to rolling her blunt.
Sufficiently satisfied with the structural integrity of her blunt, she lit it, making a show of letting wisps of smoke curl about her lips like a Dragon preparing to let out a conflaguration.

It was unnecessary if you ask me.

She finally looked up again... to acknowledge my presence, and I fought down the sweltering surge of irritation that threatened to wash over me, "You were looking for me?" I kept my voice level and void of expression.

Her eyes flashed, and I briefly mused on how unnervingly similar this girl was to her father.
The disposition toward drug use, the manipulative streak and their ability to express their ever explosive annoyance with nothing but their eyes... Ifeoma was Chief Uzodinma's daughter alright.

Her tone was equally emotionless, "Where have you been?"
I blinked at the unexpected question. Literally speaking, I wasnt obligated to give account of my whereabouts to anyone but Chief, but I figured it would be tad more hazardous if I just answered the question and spared myself the stress of Ifeome taking such a stance as offensive to her and then actively gunning for me as a result.
"The errands I was running for Chief yesterday took up a lot of time, I had to spend the night in my fathers house"
She blinked, a new emotion making its way onto her face, surprise and... relief?
An awkward silence fell upon us, until she cracked her neck (a nervous tick more than anything) and offered me her blunt with a placating smile, "Care for a smoke?"
I gave her an unimpressed look, "No thank you" my voice drier than the Sahara desert.
She pouted, but didn't press the issue. Nothing she did, short of pulling a gun on me, would make me take the treated marijuana from her, talk more of putting it anywhere near my lips.
I shifted, one foot to the other, "Anything else? I need to freshen up and get ready..."
She made a face at me, "You work too much oga! Don't kill yourself with work before you turn old". I gave her a half smile, "I'll try to keep that in mind"
I made to leave, but a firm grip on my wrist stopped me in m tracks. I felt her full, soft lips press against my knuckles in a light kiss ending her little display by nipping on my middle knuckle playfully.
Her voice dropped into a mesmerizing whisper, brushing past my ears with all the grace of a nice, fluttering wind, "Don't forget about tomorrow".
Out of words and witty comebacks, I nodded (stiffly) and began to make my way to my living quarters to freshen.

The all too familiar tightness in my trousers made me realize that I would be taking a cold bath.

Tuesday came faster than usual and with an air of uncertainty swirling about me that lasted throughout the day, i finally decided to meet Ifeoma by 6 PM. After much deliberation, i decided to dress casually for our little 'outing'. With a wry smile, i internally mulled over the sheer inappropriatety of the whole situation. The only reason i even agreed to hang out with her today was due to the lowkey vibes i had been getting from Chief over the past few months. I had had a thing for the maid before Christina, her name was Jibola and the moment Chief noticed that i would go googly eyed whenever she was around, he called me up to his study and flatly told me to perish the thought. She was fired a week after that.

Ifeoma on the other hand was an entirely different ball game. She made no efforts to hide her flirting and when my repeated pleas for her to cut it out fell on deaf ears, i had no choice than to give the girl space. Chief, despite all this, was yet to comment on the issue. Heck, i had even caught him with a self satisfied smirk on his face on christmas last year when i had been invited to have lunch with the family and Ifeoma had spent every passing minute trying to get her attention in the most inappropriate of ways. I had to studiously ignore her mother's death glare for the rest of the day.

I was broken from my internal musings by the sound of fingers snapping in quick sucession a few inches from my face. I blinke out of reflex, before my eyes settled on Ifeoma's pouting face. 'You think too much' she began exasperatedly, 'I've been trying to get your attention for the past 30 seconds. I even thought that you fell asleep with your eyes open'. 'Good morning to you too' came my dry reply. She huffed in aggravation before wiping a few beads of sweat from her brow as she began to check me out. Looks like we had both thought along the same lines of casual wear. We were both on black pencil jeans, black customized t shirs and airmax sneakers. Heck, the only difference in apparel between us was in accessories, i wore a black Nike face cap and she wore dark sunglasses. Need i say that we both loved black?

Nice story... Kudos

I tried for a smile. but quickly abandoned the idea, I was sure it would come out looking like a grimace anyway. I settled for an amiable half smirk instead, and considering the sheer oddity of the situation, one could say that this situation was anything but normal.

I don't think too many bosses would fancy their staff going out on private outings with their wards after all.

I locked my thoughts on the unusual nature of what was going on away and cleared my throat.

"Sorry... I blanked out there a bit, what were you saying?"

She gave me a flat look, before checking herself out, the flat look became a coy smile, "I was asking if you knew any lowkey joints in town... a place where the chances of me being recognized would be difficult"

I mulled over the question for some moments, i had learnt never to rush into answering a question regardless of the fact of whether I knew the answer or not, afterall, choosing one's words took time.

In a bid to deliver a hasty answer, it is not beyond the realm of possibility to use unfitting words to describe or explain what you intended to if you were fortunate enough to realize your mistake, you'd be forced to back track and further embarass yourself in a bid to clarify what you said.

Stumbling over your own words was a whole level of incompetence on its own, Ifeoma took after her father the most of all her siblings, and I didn't think she'd appreciate an answer that wasn't well thought out.

"I know a place on the outskirts, it's in a rural area, but it meets your requirements" i finally said. Ifeoma gave me a long, flat stare before letting out an exaggerated sigh, "Are you going to keep talking like this?" she grumbled. I blinked, utterly confused. Her eyes rolled in irritation at my confoundment, "Shey e clear u say na date we dey on laidis? Why are you talking like my P.A or something?". I didn't have an answer to that.

It's really an interesting piece but it's inconsistent.

An 'eloquent' "Ummm..." escaped my lips and Ifeoma gave me a patient smile, "Bros, free yourself, i'm not going to eat you". To be frank, i had no experience with girls beyond my initial attraction to Jibola as i was more or less a recluse during my secondary and tertiary years. My interactions with Ifeoma served the function of constantly reminding me of my ineptitude in interacting with the female gender. Now, this didn't really embarass me as much as one would think, but it bothered me on a fundamental level. One of the reasons i had fallen into the employ of chief Uzodinma in the first place was as a result of the fact that he recognized my innate talent in managing people. To manage people, required understanding them and i had developed a system of understanding people by observing their mannerisms, the way they talked, carried themselves, things that irritated them, interested them, that kind of thing.

My silence played a factor in this as people, in an effort to fill the bouts of silence that occured between us, revealed more about their personalities and thus giving me a better mental map on how to steer them in the direction that I wanted. With Ifeoma though, the status quo was thrown right into the furnace, she was random and as such, i couldn't get a read on her. I snapped out of my internal musing to give my bosses daughter a lopsided half smile, "No wahala".

CHAPTER SEVEN: 24/7 was a place i had discovered by accident. It was a little over a year ago, when the house i had been building for my parents was in its finishing stages. It had been an off day for me, and i used the opportunity to conduct a hasty site inspection on the building which i had just started roofing. It was a small bush bar, constructed with clay and palm fronds for a roof and lay along one of the numerous dirt roads that branched off the main highway. They sold all sorts of beer, even brands that i wasn't aware of, and lived up to their reputation as a bush bar with a variance of bush meat available in peppersoup, roasted and even fried. Their meats ranged from the common like grasscutter and rabbit to the eyebrow raising like monkeys and the downright bizzare, like snake meat.

Another thing with the 24/7 bush bar was how secluded it was. Many a number of assassinations had been planned in this very bar and it was a neutral ground for illegal business to take place... For a fee of course. Ifeoma was on her third blunt of Arizona and her fourth bottle of Legend and she didn't sound (or look) ready to call it quits. I was half done with my pack of Oris cigarettes (not my brand of choice, but it was the best they had) and on my second can of Monster.

The tobacco had taken off the edge i felt around Ifeoma and as such, our conversation became less guarded as I relaxed around her and our topics began from discussions on major global issues (she had this uncanny ability to analyze trends with surgical precision) and had progressed from there to less monumental topics... Like our current conversation for example.

"Kodak Black or Lil Pump?" Ifeoma asked with a glint in her eyes as twin plumes of smoke left her nostrils in streaming bursts. I flicked my spent cigarette stub away and took a sip of my energy drink, "Neither... I'm a 21 Savage kind of guy" i retorted, mentally deciding to give myself some time before lighting another tobacco stick. Ifeoma stifled an giggle, settling for a derisive snort, "Didn't take you to be a fan of the wannabe gangster types" she snarked. I cracked a knuckle, "First of all, I'm not a fan, i just like the blending of his lyrics with his beats..." I took another sip of my drink, "... Secondly, all that talk of his persona being an act is just what it is. Talk. We have no means of confirming it. Or do I need to...". Ifeoma cut me off, "Oya i don hear, i don't want a lecture on 21 Savage abeg..." her look became smug, "...The fact that you're defending him shows that you're a fan though" she finished in a sing-song tone. I hid my embarassment at being exposed behind a sip of Monster.