CHAPTER ELEVEN
And that's how Stein joined the UFC and since then till this very moment, he has been very useful in planning, executing and mapping out strategies for our ops, his ripped body build has also helped in supplying brute and brawn in the missions that required them. About his past, no one talked about it anymore after he narrated the whole thing to us and the drive...., it had it own special story on how it eventually became one with Stein, before then, Stein carried it everywhere he went in his pocket. After Stein got fully accustomed with the UFC family, that was a couple of months after the whole tragedy occurred, we agreed to work with a different kind of people on one of our missions when we accepted to help a jewellery maker go on this risky operation.
That time we were just random kids who had their way and did whatever they wanted which included going on varieties of insane adventures without the knowledge of the matrons but this guy who sold, crafted and hand- made the best jewellery in town saw a tiny bit of potential in us and decided to do a little exploitation. His name was Kelvin D' King and his store was known as KDK STORE. He ran the biggest jewellery business in town ranging from precious stones to valuable metals, he did it all but a day came, I can't really remember what happened before we got contracted by him, I think we...alright, I remember now. It was the middle of the year, on the 7th of June precisely when the UFC team came together, when I say the UFC team, I mean myself, Nisi, Mary, Liz, Stein, Dorcas and some of the other guys I haven't introduced to you yet, we gathered together for one sole purpose, in the next two days, 9th of June was very special; it was head matron Mrs Elizabeth's birthday and we deliberated for hours on what to get her as a birthday present. The suggestions that came in were good: gold wristwatch, a new glasses, a nice gown, new phone, et cetera but the main problem wasn't that Mrs Elizabeth was in any way demanding for any surprise gift or the fact that the suggestions were not good enough, it was simply the fact that we had no cash we could use to bring those fancy suggestions to life!, we've spent our steady pocket money on fantasies and unwanted luxuries and that time, we were technically broke!. Trust me, I figured out a plan like I always do and the plan was approached with different feelings and thoughts. I suggested we shoplift!. Nisi was the first to object, he was that kind of straight-arrowed Mr Nice Guy type of person and did not find it suitable to break any rule whatsoever, Stein nodded his head in a way that decoded 'good idea, I like the way this guy is thinking', Mary as usual, stood with Nisi, Liz just asked which time the op would be, Dorcas was kinda in the middle, she loved adventure as much as I do but always supported Mary so she was stuck on the fence. We negotiated for hours before we achieved a breakthrough, in a bid to satisfy both sides, Dorcas brought a brilliant idea to the table: instead of breaking the law, why don't we do an 'honest shoplifting'?. At first it sounded crazy and impracticable to all of us but after her lengthy convincing speech, we decided to give it a go. My plan before it was overhauled by Dorcas was to sneak it at night, pick the jewellery and sneak right out. It isn't as easy as it sounds but trust us, we always win!. Dorcas plan on the other hand was the combination of good and bad: we write a short letter stating why we broke into Kevin D' King's jewellery store and negotiating a refund of the price of the jewellery we 'borrowed', the letter was handwritten by Daniel, the essay maestro and we instructed him to add heart felt and emotional words to make us look less like hungry thieves. All was planned out and the next day, 8th of June, Stein and I dressed in our most corporate wear which comprised of a steam ironed white shirts with black coats alongside matching trousers and loafers with dark sunglasses to take things to the max walked into the priceless store....well, it wasn't 'priceless' per say, it had a cost...about a few million in dollars could buy the whole thing, so it had a price tag, well everyone around here do!. We looked around and inspected several pieces of jewellery as though we were potential fat-pocketed customers. Kelvin D' King thought so.
"Hi boys", Kelvin approached us, sending the sales rep who had started to attend to us the other way, he must have felt we were special and needed the special VIP treatment of having a whole Kelvin D' King as our sales guy, "looks like you got eye on that one, I must say, it's a masterpiece, I did it myself and completed it last month, cost me a few weeks and now, it would just cost you a few thousand in naira and fewer in dollars "
"How much are we talking about?, in naira?", Stein inquired manly.
"Two hundred and fifty thousand naira and it's all yours"
"Negotiable?", that was me.
"I'm sorry boys, it's non-negotiatable"
"Alright then..", Stein started, "forget about this one, it's far too cheap, can we see your finest work of art?, I mean the more quality and expensive ones, we deal with only deluxe"
I liked Stein for that, he possessed the same energy I wielded, he thought the same way I would think.
"Alright boys, just to clarify on something, everything here is of the highest standard and quality, we try our possible best here at KDK STORE to make sure it's like that so if you observe the price differences, it's not about the quality, it's about the cost of production, logistics and other business related stuff you can't possibly understand at your level and I wouldn't want to bore my potential clients with annoying statistics", Kelvin seemed to be a little hurt by Stein's statement.
He took us round the whole place and we inspected dozens of other work of art made by D' King himself. After some hours we decided it was time to go, Kelvin D' King wasn't so pleased to see us walk out of the store empty-handed, he expected more but we weren't there for business, business was set to later in the night.
The KDK store was located at the far end of Imo State and the UFC was there in the state on some kind of vacation to make Stein forget about the incident that occurred months ago in Lagos and to make the City Mafia forget about him. We stayed at a fancy resort centre that had everything needed to wipe out sad memories from the minds of anyone who had just experienced it; food, exciting events, competitive games and more importantly, family!, it was more than what Stein bargained for. The night of 8th June was bonfire night, people stayed out under the cool atmosphere discussing over some bottles of drinks and grilled barbecue, the matrons weren't left out in the fun but we were. The bonfire night wasn't scheduled to end until a couple of minutes after midnight which meant we had to be back from KDK STORE, prize in hand before then.
The letter was already ready and we were ready to move!. Three of us were the ones to do the op, myself, Liz and Stein, we advised the rest of the team to cover up for us if the need be and more importantly, pray for us!. The store was looking abandoned when we got there, only the shining light bulbs indicated the place wasn't totally abandoned. The combination lock of the store's first entrance came off...piece of cake, leading us away from the general reception office and into the main entrance which was protected by a bigger stronger padlock but wasn't a problem for us, me particularly, I had my Masters Degree in advanced lockpicking from the Street University back in Lagos. We crept in silently, leaving Liz at the entrance to be in the look out while Stein and I proceeded inside but what we met shocked us; the personal entrance to the jewellery store couldn't be accessed without beating the security measure I hadn't learned to overcome, complex digital lock. That wasn't even the problem as long as we had Steve the tech whiz on comms, the real issue was that the digital lock was left...unlocked!, certainly, this was suspicious, why would Kelvin D' King leave his multi-millionaire store unlocked?, did he have the idea we were coming?. We assumed it was just a freak mistake, he must have forgotten to lock it or it had slipped his mind probably when he was conversing with someone over the phone. We headed straight for the two hundred and fifty thousand naira gold jewellery Stein had earlier asked about. Stein removed it carefully from the glass box that housed it and tucked it into his pocket after which he replaced it with Dan's letter of apology. Mission accomplished in less than fifteen minutes, now to enjoy the rest of the bonfire night.
"I thought you said that piece was far too cheap for you!..."
We turned around to see the shocker of the night, Kelvin D' King sitting relaxed on a sofa at the extreme end of the store, wait... was he there when we entered?, did he sneak in after us, that, I did not observe but what the hell is he doing here?.
"I knew something wasn't right the moment I saw you two walk into this store earlier in the day, you weren't the kind of customers we expected at KDK STORE and you don't look anywhere near them. Not that you are young, in fact we've had younger customers splashing millions on precious stones but something didn't just look right the moment I saw you. The fact that you questioned the quality of my works heightened my suspicions, no one, I mean absolutely no one had ever questioned the works of my hand and I found it quite disturbing when you did and from the look of how I saw you surveying the whole place as I showed you around, I knew there was something up with you guys so I decided to play along and wait behind to confirm my suspicions and here you are, trying to rob from Kelvin D' King himself, I must say, I envy your effontery but here, we do things differently. So since you've successfully entered into my trap, how about I make you a quick deal?, the first choice you have which I know it's less likely for you to pick is juvenile remand home; I report you to the police and you spend your night and the remaining part of the year at the juvenile home learning behavioural lessons while the other most likely to choose option is for you to do me a little favour after which I look the other way and pretend you never attempted to lift my store and what's in for you?, apart from your freedom, I'm also letting you keep the jewellery for that special person of yours you wanted to surprise so badly. You guys got potential, and right now, I could do with a measure of the potential in you two and your brave girlfriend outside manning my entrance"
He knew about Liz?. Who was this guy?, some sort of magician or wizard?.
"Alright, I will give you four minutes to decide. Science has proven it takes four minutes to fall in love so I give you four minutes to fall in love with my deal. I will be waiting", he stood up and walked to the water dispenser, filled his cup and went back to his sit, sipping water as though it was a drink.
I looked at Stein, he wasn't in any way afraid, I guess he had seen a lot worse.
"Okay Stein, I guess we are left with no other option than to work for this guy, we make things quick and at the end, it's a win-win for everybody involved, what do you think?, I'm also thinking we make a run for it but seeing how relaxed this guy looks, he seemed to have everything in place and some cards up his sleeves"
"I was thinking the same thing, let's just do his biddings, how tough could it be?"
I cleared my throat to inform him we were done deciding and were ready to make our choice.
"We've made up our mind!"
"Good, I was beginning to hate the taste of the water, now what's your take boys?"
"We will do it, we will work for you...it's just once right?, and we get to go our separate ways", I asked, I wasn't working for the devil twice!
"Just once and the contract's off"
"I thought as much too", that was Stein.
"Alright, what you are going to help me with is just like a replay of what just happened here. You see, running a standard and famous jewellery business cost a lot of time, energy, skills and of course, money. I have all those criterias in excess, well except the money. Let me put it to you plainly, you guys would have to help me steal a rare giant diamond from a stingy merchant, people call him Ross. The diamond is priceless and everyone have their eyes on it including your unknown rivals. Right now, the diamond is at Ross's warehouse guarded with heavily armed men, that shouldn't be a problem for you but I trust you to retrieve it for me this night. The risks involved?, you could be caught or you could be shot but you should be able to deal with that. Don't see it like I'm sending you to your death, we are just doing ourselves a favour remember".
"Alright, we will do it. Where's Ross's warehouse?", Stein asked
"Not too far from here, if you go ahead now, you should be back before midnight for your bonfire night"
"How did you know about that?", I asked, confused, this man must be a wizard!.
"I sent a guy after you as soon as you left and he collected the information I needed about you and the whole team...what did he call it again?...UFC, yeah"
"What do you intend to do with the diamond when we deliver it to you?", Stein asked.
"Easy, I have a ready buyer at the port of Lagos waiting for the diamond before he makes his trip out of the borders of this country. So as soon as it gets to me, I send it via my private logistics company straight to my client and we go our separate ways, deal?"
"Deal!"
It was ten 'o clock already when Liz, Stein and I left KDK STORE and went straight to Ross's warehouse. We reasoned it was better the three of us went for the op without informing the rest, they might not subscribe to us risking everything over some piece of jewellery. According to Kelvin, the diamond itself was in Ross's personal office in the middle of the warehouse and it would take a lot of action and refined skills to get there unhurt and unnoticed, well, we had the action and obviously did not lack the skills, we just needed a little bit of luck on our side. The warehouse was a sparsely-lit large two storey building and we had to work with that. We mapped out a plan: Liz would distract the guy that manned the warehouse door while Stein and I sneaked inside; we reasoned it was safer for her to do the distraction 'cos no sane person would want to shoot an innocent harmless girl without finding her motive first. Once inside, we would know how to sort ourselves and she could enjoy the rest of her bonfire night.
"Good evening sir ...", Liz started respectfully, to put the ball in motion, "I'm new to this vicinty and it looks like I'm kinda lost here, can you help me find my way?"
"This place is not to be wandered into young girl, leave before it's too late!", the guy ordered.
"Please, help me, I'm lost!, I just want to go home!", Liz burst out in tears, wow!, she was such a good actor I thought.
"Okay, okay...", he moved out of the entrance, "you see, this place is a dead end, keep going straight until you approach a junction then turn right, you would see a jewellery store, once you get there, you should be able to inquire your way into town..."
Stein and I crept into the opened door as soon as we saw he was distracted enough. Everywhere was silent except some irregular footsteps and loud voices we heard as we moved closer to Ross's office. Kelvin's description was accurate and in about five minutes, we neared a door, the inscription on the it, 'ROSS' indicated that the door was the only thing between us and the diamond. I had my lock pickng tools with me, I always had it on me every time and in a minute, the door was unlocked. The office was dark and dusty, it seemed no one had been there in years, was Kelvin sure this was where the diamond was or was he trying to mess with us and lead us into a trap as a punishment for trying to steal from him, at least he had nothing to lose. Stein made for the light bulb and in a flash, everywhere brightened up, there were large books scattered on the office table in the centre of the room, a wooden cabinet was placed on the side of the room, a portrait frame of Ross was hung on the wall right behind the office table, a standing fan stood in one corner of the room and a small fridge occupied the space near the table. Quickly, we searched everywhere, the table, the cabinet and even the fridge but we found nothing, where could it be?. Time was running out and we needed to be back before an hour to midnight to deliver the diamond to Kelvin before heading back to our base. Suddenly, we heard footsteps incoming and we retreated behind the office table hoping we hadn't done much to arouse the attention and curiosity of whoever was coming. In a moment, the door swung open.
"Alright thanks, we talk tomorrow...goodnight", with the manner he spoke with an air of superiority, we reasoned it must be Ross!. From where we hid under the table, we could only see his legs. We saw him move to the fridge, open it and take a drink after which he moved to the edge of the room, kneel down, roll the carpet sideways and brought out something from the ground, it was the diamond!
"No one is taking you away from me anymore", Ross solioquised. Well, that was weird, we hadn't expected a man of his calibre be talking to an inanimate diamond but in any case, we were going to take it from him whether he liked it or not, we had no choice, we were working under duress. Fortunately for us who were running out of time, Ross didn't spend much time in the room after he returned the diamond back into the ground where he strangely hid it, he sighed heavily, switched off the light bulb and vacated the office, now it was our turn to visit the diamond and this time we weren't going to talk to it!.
We hurried out of our hiding spot. We were lucky Ross wasn't the meticulous type, he hadn't noticed his door lock was picked and the light bulb was switched on, that was his mistake and it favoured us. We went to the spot Ross knelt down, dragged open the carpet and behold!, the prize....a giant diamond lay buried underneath the carpet. If not that we had seen him uncover this spot, we wouldn't have thought the diamond could be kept there, nice thinking. We picked it up, it was very heavy and kept it inside the backpack Kelvin had given us for the op, now to repeat the breaking in process, but this time... we did it backwards!.
We crept out of the office, leaving the light bulb on and avoid spots that had too much lighting. We passed through the staircase since the office was on the middle floor and when the main entrance was already in sight, we saw the armed guy who had been distracted by Liz when we sneaked in and we had totally forgotten about him on our way back. He looked at us as we passed by his side towards the warehouse entrance door and smelt a rat!.
"Who are you two?, and what are you looking for here?", he yelled, probably to arouse the attention of his mates that the warehouse had been infiltrated!.
We just looked away and quickened our footsteps, that made him angrier.
"Stop there right now or I..", we heard him cock his rifle in readiness to shoot.
"Run Stein!", I screamed.
Bullets shots battered the warehouse door as we escaped narrowly, I felt bullets whizz past my ear, it was that close!. He didn't relent in his loyalty to Ross as he gave us a hot pursuit and we did not lose him until after a while when we hid in a bush and watch him run out of steam before retreating back to his duty post at Ross's warehouse, they needed him more there. We jogged back to KDK STORE and as we passed through the last main entrance in exhaustion, we saw the second shocker of the night, Kelvin D' King was discussing heartily with Ross over a bottle of champagne!...