TREACHEROUS ORDEAL

CHAPTER 9

The time kept ticking. Same routine, every day. The prison setting was bad enough to drive anybody nuts. They had no choice, no alternative but to remain there serving endless sentences.  .  

In total,  Mike has spent two years and four months in the state's correctional facility.  No thanks to Jennifer who is currently enjoying her stay in a comfortable apartment with a huge salary.  

The operations manager was actually eating the delicious food she cooks and the one she naturally possesses. With those, he enjoyed a perfect square meal at a snap of a finger.  It was a transactional thing between them and it's nobody's business.  

Mike's mother was worried.  All effort to reach her son proved abortive. What else could she do? Nothing. All she did was pray for his safety,  hoping he'd one day return in good health. She doesn't mind if he returns broke, what she wants is her son in good condition.

Mike on the other end, had accepted his fate. He only wishes his mom could hear him for, at least, one last time. To hear her prayers and encouraging words once again. All that he wanted as his hope for freedom had, obviously,  become impossible to hear from her, was to feel his mother's love once again.  

It was noon, minutes after lunch, Mike heard some footsteps approaching.  The warden was walking towards his cell. He wasn't expecting anyone, in fact, no one in his cell was expecting anybody. It can't be Pastor Deamond, it's five months already and he's forgotten how the man looks.  

"You!  Stand up."

"I said, stand up!"

Mike stood up, confused.  

The burglary door was opened and Mike was asked to step out.  

His fellow inmates protested,  

"E'n no do anything o. Make una leave am."

"Weytin Mike do?", they asked in pidgin English.  

The warden didn't reply to any of their questions.  He walked behind Mike until the voices of his inmates faded.  

As he walked, he kept wondering what could be wrong.  

"Have I finally been charged or... are they about to conduct the trial now?"

"Whatever it is, let it happen. If I perish, I perish"

He concluded as he was taken into a different room from the normal one used in entertaining visitors. He knew something was up,  it's either for good or for the worse. He chose to settle for the later,

"There's nothing good anywhere. If they want to kill me, fine. I am tired", all these were going  through his mind.

Immediately he got in, noticed three men in black suits. Guess whose face he saw first, Pastor Desmond's!

He knelt down and broke down in tears.  He was crying uncontrollably.  They all felt his pain and stood up to comfort him.  

The other two men were the pastors' lawyers. They came to hear his story from him and then,  extract necessary information that will help them find a solution to aid his release.  

They were together for an allowed time of thirty minutes.  They got all they needed, including Mr. Olumide's home address. They headed straight to the address he gave them.  Meeting with him would help fasten his release if he gets to know what really transpired.  

Again, Mike's hope arose more than it had ever been. This time, he was certain that some steps would be taken.  

The pastor narrated earlier that he had some life threatening illness a few days after last visit and he was hospitalized and had some fellow clerics praying for him for months.  

"My standing here with you is a miracle, I could barely walk as I did three weeks ago", he said. 

On getting to Mr.  Olumide's home, they met his  security who informed his wife. She contacted her husband and he rushed down to his home. 

"Some lawyers are in our home and they said they want to see you", the words got him scared and he had to run home,  hoping it's not that someone has sold his house without his consent.  

When he got to his house, he welcomed them as they exchanged pleasantries. They introduced themselves to one another and the conversation of the moment ensued. 

He already felt hurt the moment they mentioned, "Mike". His wife couldn't hold it either, they pounced on the visitors. Bashed them with words and embarrassed them out of their house. 

"What nonsense. Someone almost took my family from me and you're here telling me stories he must have fed your hungry brains with from the prison. I have no sympathy for people like him!!  Let him rot for all I care", Mr Olumide was enraged.  

Same as his wife.  They weren't ready to listen to any discussion regarding "Mike". To them, he's gone and must be forgotten. 

The next day, they submitted a letter to the gate man to deliver to his boss but he trashed it. He couldn't dare hand his boss a letter from the men who got him so unsettled the last time. People he sent out of his home.  

"There's definitely nothing oga wants to do with them",  he said as he thrashed the A4 sized brown envelope into the bin basket.  

All efforts to reach Mr. Olumide proved abortive. His wife nor the security officer weren't helping matters. 

"We have tried to reach him in a civilised manner but he seems too stubborn to listen. We will have to resort to other means. That's somebody's son whiling away in the prison for an offense he didn't commit", the lawyers discuss how to get his attention.  

They started following him for days. They figured he had a mistress he visits before going home.  A young lady he takes out for lunch,  parties etc and returns home when he's exhausted.  

They took a handful of pictures of him and the mistress at parties, eateries, walkways and during intercourse in the apartment he rented for her.  

Barrister Sam went to his office and handed Mr.  Olumide's receptionist a sealed parcel to deliver to him and left. He left his phone number in one of the photos that had him in an intimate position with the mistress. They were both unclad. 

It was taken to his office immediately.  Meanwhile, Barrister Sam had left the vicinity already. 

As soon as he opened it, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.  His blood pressure ran so high that he couldn't breathe properly until a few minutes later.  

He hurriedly dialed the number on it and requested to know what the "blackmailer" wanted.  

"Now,  you're ready to listen, Mr. Olumide, meet me at number 11, Ozumba Mbadiwe Crescent, Victoria Island at 7:00pm today. You will find a black Toyota Landcruiser jeep parked at the entrance of Atlas supermarket. You have less than two hours or else all your family members and the public will see these photos of you", he said then hung up. 

Mr. Olumide rushed out and drove to where he was ordered at exactly, forty five minutes earlier against the time he was given.  

He was briefed about all Mike had told them. They promised not to release any of the pictures as their reason for it was just to get his attention. He believed them and then heaved a sigh of relief.  

"Please, give me all the copies you have with you" They gave him all they had as they meant no harm.  

It has taken a whole week already and they were yet to visit Mike. No thanks to his stubborn boss. 

He became worried again; 

"Have they backed out like their colleagues did to Bola?"

"I refuse to doubt Mr. Desmond a second time.  I'll wait. Be patient Michael, be patient...", he said to himself.