The Encryption

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"I'm so sorry about that babe." said Chiamaka, Jumoke's closest friend and colleague with utmost sympathy in her voice. "I know how hard you've been trying, don't worry, soon." She reassured her friend as they walked to get coffee.

"Does Tobi know you took another test?"

Jumoke sighed at her friend's question "No, I didn't tell him, I don't want to get his hopes up, I would've rather surprised with a "babe we're pregnant!" she said with enthusiasm she would've had if that was the case before her voice dropped again, "but no."

Jumoke and her husband had been married for six years without a child. Abimbola was really her niece; her younger sister, Lola had died during childbirth so her mother only deemed it fit that Jumoke raise her as her own as she had been married for two years then without a child.

Only very few people knew who Bimbo really was but Tobi didn't care, he loved her as his own.

As the friends got to the elevator, Jumoke lowered her voice

"This is taking too long. It's been 6 years since I got married, you were there, and I'm 30 now. I'm not getting any younger...and Tobi's mum constantly reminds me of that fact."

"Forget her jarey, God's time is the best, you just wait."

Chiamaka assured her as they walked back to the offices, cups of coffee in hand.

Time was one thing Jumoke felt she had the least of in life. Sitting at her desk, she would have appeared to be working to anyone that walked by but she was actually on the internet, reading up on the option of In Vitro Fertilization since natural conception wasn't working out.

"Package for Mrs. Daniels," a voice snapped her out of her concentration. She quickly minimized the tab and looked up.

"Oh, hey Yusuf."

"Jummy Jummy, how are you?"

He asked smiling, he never ever called her by her name, and it was always 'Jummy Jummy'. She smiled back "I'm good, thank you."

Yusuf worked in the mail department of the company so it surprised her that she had personal mail at work; she normally had her mail posted to her home.

"For me ke, Are you sure?"

"Yeah, your name's on it, right next to urgent" he placed emphasis on 'urgent' and handed her the package.

"Oh, okay thank you Yusuf" she smiled; he returned the smile and carted away.

She looked down at the parcel in her hand: it was flat and of moderate size, the content enclosed in a brown envelope with her name boldly written on the label.

OLAJUMOKE DANIELS

CLOVER PUBLISHING LIMITED, IKEJA

URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL

"Urgent and confidential" she read with a cocked eyebrow. She traced her fingers over the envelope then stood to go to the bathroom. Once safely in a stall, she pulled down the toilet seat and opened the envelope.

Out dropped a small paper onto the tiled floor as she dragged the other sheets of paper out. The first paper was a short typed note.

You have 3 days to crack to crack this code. If you can't figure this out within that time, you would watch your life crumble before you. You would lose everything you love. This is very confidential Jumoke.

Her eyes enlarged in shock and her fingers began to tremble in response to the note. Code? What code? With quivering fingers, she fumbled through the sheets to the next one which had an actual encryption on it, in some sort of old language.

"What is this?"

The last item was the face-down paper on the floor. She picked it up and looked at it, it was a photograph. Her jaw dropped

"How did they get this?" she whispered. With fear in her heart she put the note, photograph and encryption back in the envelope and walked out of the bathroom with a sinking feeling that things were bound to get worse.