Forgive the Godfather

12: A clandestine meeting with the SSS

Debra had been lying on the wide, double bed in the master bedroom upstairs utterly distressed, when she heard a vehicle horn at the gate. Moments later, Labo stepped into the room.

Labo walked over to the wide wardrobe, selected a clean native dress from his huge collection and struggled into it. He spoke as he dressed, "I'm going to see Kris. He is sending a vehicle to pick me up."

The gate was opened and a van drove up the short drive-in. Debra got to her feet and rushed to the window. She lifted the curtain and observed a delivery van parked by the front door steps.

The van was conspicuously branded with a colorful and appetizing loaf of sliced bread. Below the bread were the letters in Gothic: Eat Delicious Bread, Delivered to your doorstep.

"Is that the vehicle that Kris has sent to pick you up?" Debra asked over her shoulder.

Labo finished dressing and came over to the window. He looked curiously at the bread delivery van with the picture of a big loaf of bread painted on its white panel.

"Yes, that would be the van," he said.

"A bread delivery van, are you sure?" Debra asked. Labo forced a thin smile. "Trust Kris. This is the only way no one will suspect that I have contacted the SSS. Well, I'll go and see Kris. If there is anyone who can help us out of this situation, it woud be Kris."

Labo's phone began to ring. He recognized the new unsaved number on his call list. "That must be the driver that Kris sent."

"Hello, that you Tako?" Labo asked.

"Yes, sir, Tako, sir calling to inform you that I'm in your compound.

"Okay, I will be out in a moment," Labo answered. He hung up, patted Debra's arm. "Alright, Debby, keep calm. Don't do anything while I'm gone, okay?

Remember, not a word about this to anyone."

Labo left the bedroom and hurried down the stairs.

The side door of the van slid open on its rail as Labo opened the front door, crossed the veranda and climbed into the back of the van.

Tako slid the door closed and got behind the wheel. He turned the car around and drove through the opened gate.

Not a word was spoken as the van ran through traffic. Labo, sited at the back of the sealed van, could only see the road through the front windshield.

He immediately recognized the all too familiar popular Ahmadu Below Way, and then the Ibrahim Bagangida Way. And then he got lost as the van went under a flyover, and through a maze of left and right turns. Labo noticed the van driving along a narrow tarred road with tall trees on either side.

The van approached a tall, solid double iron gate, which was immediately opened by a heavily armed security man.

Inside the spacious compound, the 'bread delivery van' moved along the short drive-in, made a left turn and finally pulled up in front of a squat, solid looking block with thick tinted glass that looked like bulletproofed.

Tako stepped down quickly and slid the rear side door open. He nodded toward a door.

Labo slipped out and walked up to the door indicated by Tako. He turned the handle and pushed inward, found himself in a long well-lit corridor with several doors on either side.

Labo paused, brought out his phone, but before he could make the call, a door opened at the end of the corridor and Tida walked up to him.

"Mr Labo, right?" Tida asked.