Silhouette

I

Dave Coker climbs the stairs, two at a time. His coat is dripping wet and his hat is heavy. He ignores the mutterings of the young men smoking at the base of the stairs. They can't see his face.

He climbs all the way to the top floor, his gloved hands are clenching and unclenching. He turns right, marches down the hallway to the last door. The door is old and brown with a shiny black padlock.

Dave removes a key from his front pocket and inserts it into the lock. The door groans open as he leans a shoulder into it. He takes a long look down the hallway before going inside.

The room is bare except for except for two men strapped to chairs in the middle of the room. Next to them is a music player and a big speaker.

Dave Coker switches on the light and the room is bathed in a dull yellow glow from the dirty bulb hanging from the ceiling. The smell of damp concrete is thick and cockroaches scurry away from the light.

The man on the right is Justice Bamidele. 65, bald with an absurd potbelly and notoriously corrupt.

Next to him is Kenneth Amadi. 30, a rapist and has evaded the law several times.

Dave removes his hat, places it on the speaker. His hair drips water onto his face. He removes a Glock 22 from his holster. The grip is alien in his hands. It is not his service pistol. "I'm going to remove the tape now," he says to both men. "Do not shout or I will kill you."

He removes the duct tape from Kenneth Amadi's mouth.

"Fuck you," says Kenneth. His eyes are angry, almost rabid.

Dave allows a small smile into his face. He removes four photographs from his pocket. They are small and square with staple holes at the top. "I imagine you still remember these women," he says as he drops them one after the other on Kenneth's lap. "Lisa Benjamin, Margaret Udochie, Omolola Peters and Mary Asuno. All raped by you."

"So? What are you gonna do? What's your deal anyway?"

Dave holds Kenneth's gaze. He takes out another photograph from his pocket. This one is of a younger girl. He dumps it on his laps.

Kenneth Amadi swallows. "What... what is this?"

"Tayo Omode. She was fourteen, just a kid and you raped her."

"Look, look," says Kenneth as he laughs. "You just let me go and I'll pay you handsomely, I swear. I'm a man of my word."

"Yes. Just like how you payed the judge here."

Kenneth stares at him for few moments. "Twenty million," he says. "In cash. How about that?"

"The girl died last night. She jumped from a seven storey building. The autopsy report showed she was three weeks pregnant."

"What?" For the first time, Kenneth looks afraid.

Dave tapes his mouth.

He removes the tape from Justice Bamidele's mouth. It comes off with some bit of moustache.

He takes a photograph from his pocket and holds it before the judge's face. "Rambo, murdered a family of three and you let him go."

The judge is sweating. His potbelly heaves up and down with each breath. "Please, don't kill me," he says. "I have children... two... two children. Please."

"Yes," says Dave. "John and Sarah. They've lived in Switzerland all their lives and they have no idea their dad releases criminals into the society after accepting bribes, do they?"

"Please," says the judge. Tears are running down his eyes. "I was greedy."

"Because of you, thirteen people are dead."