CHAPTER NINE
"Going somewhere?....,we are not done with you...for now I guess", the strange huge man said as he hurled Stein back into the house he had tried escaping from.
"Don't mind him sir, he's just a kid, he doesn't know the implication of what he is trying to do, I tried letting him know, but he's just too adamant like my old friend", Mr Sheun commented, probably trying to use his words to cover his gross incompetence to prevent a young lad like Stein from escaping from his reach under his own roof. The stranger ignored him, sat down on a two-seater leather couch and pushed Stein to the chair right opposite him.
"Now Frank, let's make things nice and easy. You are a good kid and you don't need to get hurt, besides I don't fancy hurting kids but if you give me no option, I guess I would have to re-choose the things I fancy!, I would ask you one simple question and I need accurate and precise short answers, that shouldn't be a problem for you, I heard the Sheriff's son is a genius. Just tell me, where is the drive?"
"I don't know what you are talking about!", Stein replied rudely.
"For a young kid like you, I must say you have a lot of guts", he looked at Mr Sheun, "this kid does not know who I am!, haven't you done the necessary introduction?", he faced Stein back and continued, "they call me Shrike, do you know what it means?, I suggest you look it up in your dictionary later and learn how dangerous that word implies. I work for the City Mafia and in case you don't know, I am Big Chief's right hand man and his favourite personal executioner, I hope you know the meaning of that. Your dad is a smart guy and pretty evasive too, if not, you should be an orphan a long time ago but now, he ran out of luck and as we speak, he's being accompanied to the City Mafia's headquarters where he's got an important appointment with Big Chief and some important emissaries from the state house and here we are, I got my hands on his son and I'm running out of ideas of what to do with you but I will start by giving you a proper orientation. You see, your dad is a very bad man and he wanted to eat his cake and have it. The truth is that, a long time ago, the City Mafia worked as an independent group; we took only what we needed from the people who had more than enough using limited force and crude arms and ammunitions and shedding little blood during every of our actions and missions but as everyone evolved, the military and anti-terrorism squads became stronger and wielded powerful firearms and so did we and since then, the war ravaged between the unstoppable force which was the government and the immovable object which was us, the City Mafia causing a popular number of deaths and countless irreparable damage to properties, we lost good men and so did they and innocent civilians took most of the damage but one day, one man decided the gross insanity had to stop; the present state governor got elected and decided to consider the saying, 'if you can't beat them, you join them...you both can make a great team you know!' So, he brought the idea of a peace treaty and offered us a deal, instead of working against each other, why don't we work together and fight against our common enemy and that was it, since then, we've worked together, the City Mafia and the government's military force to eliminate both our enemies. We were awarded undercover kill contracts and did the dirty jobs they were too civilised to do, as rewards they gave us everything we wanted; money, guns, military-standard vehicles and also provided a solid impenetrable fortress for us and since then, everyone went home each night happy until your father came along and wanted to play hero by exposing the state government to the national and global scene and he thinks we are going to sit down, fold our hands and watch him do that, certainly not!. He worked for Big Chief and as a reward, we gave him a job and a life he could call his own after his wife's death and now this is how he's going to repay all we did for him. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, the last time I told someone about the origin of the City Mafia and the government, that poor guy didn't live to see the next morning so I'm guessing that's what might just play out here too. So after all's been said, Frank, I'm gonna ask one last time, where is the drive?"
Stein remembered his dad's strict warning to guard the drive with his life and on no account should anyone whosoever have possession of it, well except Mr Sheun who had turned out to be a traitor and so if it means standing on his ground against Shrike, he was going to defy the odds and do just that.
"Mr Shrike", Stein started boldly, "I appreciate your knowledge of history but to be frank with you, I don't know anything about any drive and FYI, I don't know where it....", Shrike hit Stein's head with the butt of his gun and knocked him out cold.
"Search him and his things, we need that drive!", Shrike ordered, "if you don't find it on him, load him in the car, I would be waiting for you....we have a journey to make...this night!"
"Yes sir!", Mr Sheun replied cowardly.
It was much darker when Stein woke up with a terrible headache, the rough bumpy road didn't help much either as the jeep sped on, the driver ignoring all the traffic signs that flanked the road.
"You awake already?", that was Shrike, "for a boy like you, I honestly did not expect you to wake up until three hours from now. I must say, you are just like your old man. Buckle up, we are almost there"
Stein didn't respond, he just sat motionless between Shrike and Mr Sheun and ignored him and his annoying speech totally throughout the whole journey.
~City Mafia Headquarters
Location: Unknown
Tall trees formed a dense canopy right above the fortress making the entrance and the whole place sort of invisible and unnoticeable. The road that led inside was untarred and littered with leaves, bullet shells, cigarette stubs and empty beer bottles. Armed men manned each side of the road and each took turns to salute Shrike as they passed each checkpoint. There were up to seven checkpoints and they were put in place to avoid any possibility of infiltration of any form or degree. As they passed the last checkpoint that led to a metal gate so large that it was up to single-storey building in and was as thick as the car's width. This place was a fortress indeed!. Several huge men helped open the gate as they drove in after which they shut it tight and resumed to their various positions. Other cars that looked much more luxurious than the one they were in were also lined up in a straight file inside the main fortress, it looked like they had a serious meeting and he and his dad were the reason the meeting was being held. The car parked in a special garage separately from where the other cars were parked, Shrike was important to the City Mafia after all. They all alighted from the jeep with the exception of the driver, he remained in the car probably waiting for the next order or coordinates. Shrike accompanied with Mr Sheun and Stein passed through several entrances manned by heavily armed men before they entered the main building after which they headed straight to the conference room where a large round table was placed at the center. On seats were several important men, some dressed in corporate suits and ties with their personal aides standing behind their seats while other were dressed casually in jeans and polo shirts. Shrike signalled Mr Sheun to take Stein somewhere 'safe'. In response, he took him to some sort of dark dungeon with little lighting and poor ventilation.
"Have a nice time here Frank, we have work to do, we will have to get back to you!", Mr Sheun said gleefully and slammed the door. Stein looked around, everywhere was obscured, the only light came from a dangling fragile yellow light bulb in the center of the prison. He thought of an escape plan but couldn't come up with any, this prison seemed like it was built to beat even the smartest mind or the strongest body, in frustration, Stein sat down on the dusty floor with his head placed in between his legs.
"What's wrong Frank?, feeling sleepy?", a voice called out from the dark.
"Dad?", Stein stood up, confused, that could possibly not be his dad!.
"Son!", Sheriff exclaimed as he hugged Stein tightly, "I've missed you Frank. How did the journey go?, did you deliver the package to my friend?, did anyone try to hurt you?"
"No. Turns out your friend is working for the same people that wants us dead!. He and Shrike brought..."
"Shrike!", Sheriff interrupted, "that bastard!, hope he did not harm you?"
"No dad, he brought me to this facility, says they have some sort of appointment....wait, they said they had an appointment with you right about now!, and here you are in this prison with me, is this where the meeting is supposed to take place?. How did you get here?"
"Long story son. After you escaped, Shrike and his men proved to be too hot for me alone me to handle and requested for the drive, I lied to them and sent them on a wild goose chase to the house. After searching the whole place and seeing nothing, Shrike was about to pull the trigger when he received a phone call from someone; my trusted friend called to inform him he had his hands on the drive but with one catch, it was passworded. This made Shrike consider the fact that they would need me alive at least till they unlocked the drive and deleted the whole data on it. So they brought me to this facility and kept me in a special prison with two guards by my side. I took out the guards and escaped from there and kept running until I came across this unlocked room and decided to catch my breath here and see who I found here....hold on Frank, is the drive still on you?".
Stein searched himself but the drive wasn't on him anymore. He checked the inner pocket of his jacket but found nothing on him "no dad, they must have searched me and taken it from my pocket when Shrike knocked me out..."
"He did what?...I swear I'm gonna put a bullet in Shrike's brain!"
"Hold on dad, if they are in possession of the drive, why can't they just destroy it?, at least, that could do some damage to the data on it and wipe it totally"
"They wouldn't dare do that Frank. That drive isn't just any drive, it's a one of its kind technology designed by tech genius, Simon Flair himself, CEO of FLAIR - TECH INDUSTRIES and I personally ordered for it due to the high level security purpose I wanted to use it for. Though it cost a little fortune, but it's worth every dollar because that's what is stopping them from destroying it and killing us instantly. The drive is special 'cos it has a special fail-safe feature that uploads its content completely to the internet if anyone tries to access it illegally or tries to destroy it. Destroying it is not even an option 'cos the drive is practically indestructible. It can only be accessed by me that's why they haven't killed me yet, once I input the password, it's all over for us!, but the good news is that I would rather die than to help them wipe away all the traces of their atrocities. So Frank, let's come up with a solid plan, they need me, not you, it's about time they noticed I'm not where they kept me anymore and they put this place on total lockdown: no one gets in or out until they pinch us in or smoke us out so we gotta get moving. We need to find the drvie and upload its data to the web for the world to see this deadly relationship between the government and terrorists but that would mean taking a trip to hell and back!. I forgot to tell you something earlier in the truck, the drive also contains access pins of loaded bank accounts and the embezzled funds of the state are kept there. The locations of some tons of cash hidden behind the walls of their associates houses and abandoned warehouses are also recorded in the drive; that's another reason they want the drive so bad, they are worried we might 'rob' them of their money the way they robbed the masses or maybe they feel we would expose their money laundering acts using the cash as evidence. So remember, they won't harm me 'cos they need me, they would only harm you or threaten to harm you if I don't give them what they want. So you keep clear of harm's way okay?." Sheriff shifted the metal door open, peeped out to see if anyone was manning the door before he crept out with Stein. They walked slowly towards the exit of the building, using the darkness in the corridor as cover. As they reached a particular junction, the darkness ceased immediately and several light bulbs came on instantly. The whole gang had been waiting right there for them.
"Well done Sheriff", Shrike started, "we all have been waiting for you. We have you right where we wanted. You think it was a coincidence that prison door was left unlocked, we knew how you would think, that's why we put your son there!".
"Quick, behind me!", Sheriff whispered to Stein. The whole party was brought here: the armed henchmen, Mr Sheun, the government guys and Big Chief himself stood and had been awaiting both father and son!.
"See, let's do things the civilised way Sheriff, give us the password and we will let you and your brave little son live. Nice offer huh?, or you run and we hurt the little boy!"
"Leave my son out of this and never Shrike, I'm not giving you the password, over my dead body!", Sheriff spat.
"Well then, you gave me no choice but before we dance, you have a surprise guest..", the door from the other end where they all stood swung open and a man dressed in a fancy suit with sunglasses across his face approached them; he was the state governor!. He took a few pleasantries from his host before he stood beside Shrike and removed his shades.
"Surprised to see me?...well don't be!. I'm here on official purpose and I intend to make it quick", he turned to face Shrike, "you've got the drive?"
"Yes sir, just remains the access codes...", Shrike responded.
"Alright then, we are going to make things fast, I've got a flight to catch, the president had me invited to the presidential villa to clarify on the rumours he had been hearing concerning the City Mafia and their relationship with my government and you know how it feels when someone's probing you and making you feel sort of incompetent. Now I'm here 'cos I told Big Chief here I don't want any bloodshed, you just lost your wife and I sympathise with you, accept my condolences but now, you don't need to lose anyone else, your son especially. See, I'm a very generous man and I intend to leave it that way, when these guys see war, I see peace and work towards it. Now all you need to do is to tell me the access codes and we let you walk away from here unscathed, like this whole drama never occurred, simple!"
Stein and his dad knew they were both lying, there was no way they were going to let them out like that even if they told them the password. They had to make a run for it.
"Alright", Sheriff started, "it's the codes you want, I will give it to you...", everyone except the governor looked shocked, they hadn't expected it to go this easy. Stein was even more shocked, what about the risk involved in working for them, had his father thought of it,he thought...his thoughts were irrelevant now. "But one condition, leave my son out of this and let him go and I would do anything you want".
The governor clapped his hands victoriously, "bravo!, good boy, now you are talking!", he turned back to face Big Chief, "I thought you said he was giving you a lot of problems. Isn't this what we just solved in a matter of minutes?. When I tell you power is power, know that I am saying the truth", he faced Shrike, "now get the drive over here and let him do his thing, I'm running late already". Shrike motioned to his men and they went in to bring the drive encased inside a briefcase.
"Tell them what you will need!, they are at your service...for now", the governor proposed.
"Okay, I will need a computer, preferably a laptop with an high operating system and a Window standard not less than Windows eleven, I hope you have that here 'cos I could really do with my personal work laptop here. Also, I will need a bottle of alcohol, spirit or brandy preferably, a cigarette lighter and a large cigar, I work well with those", Sheriff listed.
"Alright boys, you heard him, let's get to work!". The governor moved back and whispered something in Yoruba to Shrike since they knew the Sheriff was Igbo and reasoned he couldn't possibly understand the message being passed across but unbeknownst to them, Sheriff understood the three major languages in the country perfectly alongside several international languages, how did they think he carried out his job so effectively if he did not understand the language of the people. Sheriff stylishly read the governor's lip and at the end of his whisper, the message translated, 'kill them both when you have the codes!'. Alright then, he knew this was coming after all and he had a plan.
"And remember Sheriff, we have eyes on you, don't try to do anything funny. We know about the drive's fail-safe and if you try to activate it, your son's grave would be the next you're digging!", Shrike threatened, trying to intimidate his guests. Well, it worked....on Stein.
Stein stood by the side of his dad, ignoring the threatening face of the mercs as they rushed to provide all the items on the Sheriff's list. Aside the laptop, the remaining items on the list came in handy. In twenty minutes, everything was put in place and work was set to begin.
"The drive please", the Sheriff asked, stretching his palm forward. Shrike cast a menacing look on him before he handed over the drive to him. It was just a matter of time before he put an end to their unholy friendship!.
"Alright, let's get to work!", Sheriff rolled up his sleeves, lit his cigar, opened his bottle of spirit and took a mouthful, switched on the system, did the necessary stuffs you are required to do when you switch on a computer and inserted the drive into its port on the side of the laptop while everyone stood and watched earnestly. On the screen it was displayed, 'WELCOME, PLEASE INPUT THE PASSCODE...'