The Phone Thief

12. Pretense

After parking the car, Adam stood by the car, leaning on it, pressing on his phone. He needs to get noticed, he had to send a first impression that he's rich.

"Oh I have to get a card for her Majesty" - his step mum. He remembered.

Before going to the event center, Adam had gotten a beautiful envelope, had his name boldly printed, inserted his card and sealed it.

The gate to the event center was secured by half a dozen armed police men and civil Defense officers. They saw Adam when he arrived in the Benz.

Adam approached them making a phony phone call. He stood by their earshot long enough for them to perceive the richness of his perfume and the significance of his importance.

Over the phone, Adam was saying "I don't know actually, I wasn't in town then. He met the manager. The manager told me he collected a stock of N26.5m. I will ask the manager to bring the records later."

When he was done with the call, he approached the police men. Sensing he was a VIP, they greeted him the police kind of greeting. Adam humbly answered their greeting, even bowing down a bit. He proceeded by moving in. Then one of the police called him back "Sir, there's a need for you to show us your gate pass."

"Oh, yes....exactly" Adam said, pocketing his phone and at the same time searching for the card in his pocket. The police watched him as he checked his breast pocket, it wasn't there, his side pockets, it wasn't there. "But it should be in my pocket he said" with worrying looks on his face. One of the policemen said "check your trouser's pockets. Adam complied. It wasn't in the left pocket. To check the other pocket, Adam brought out a whole wrapper of N1k notes followed by the card.

"Ah...here it is. I knew I came out with it."

when giving the policeman the card, Adam deliberately let the money fell on the ground. The policeman collected the card and Adam took his money from the ground.

Adam saw the look on the face of the police man when he saw the card in an envelope with "Adam Isa" calligraphically written on it.

While the policeman was opening the envelope, Adam took a little proportion out of the wrapper of money without counting and gave one of the officers. The officer collected the money with -100% hesitation, thanking Adam "Allah ya saka da alkhairi"

He started moving towards the hall, then the officer with the card said "you are to go with the card sir"

Adam collected the card.

To enter the hall, Adam had to present the card again. There also, were policemen and civil defense corps. "Ah, Sir you're the one here?" Adam asked one of the policemen as he presented his card. "I know you may not remember me, how is work?" It was actually just a bluff.

"Work is fine sir." The police man answered.

Adam tucked his hand in his pocket and brought out some of those new notes. He gave the money to the officer and said "Anyway, the place is going to be noisy very soon, this is some new notes, you know we are going to play with them today." Everyone laughed. The policeman collected the money and Adam went into the hall.

Inside the hall, few people were seated as music was blaring from all corners. "Nice timing" Adam thought. There were few ladies seated on the left wing of the hall. Different types of drinks were on the tables. Adam sat on a chair that's facing the wall on the right.

His prayer was that the guests should start arriving in numbers as soon as possible because he had to get two cards for his step mum.

His attitude at the entrance and the money that he gave the police are an insurance. First, if he couldn't get a card for his step mum, the police will find it hard to say no to his request for a favor. Second, if he ever get caught stealing, the police will step in, and they will be flabbergasted, they'll be as soft as possible.