CHAPTER NINETEEN

At exactly thirty minutes before the official checkout time at the Mercury Hotel, Skinny, Lizzy and John Bull, three top members of the Free-Hands sat thoughtfully inside one of the executive lounges of the plush hotel, also among them was Victor. Skinny, a glass of Whisky in his left hand and a lighted weed on his manicured fingers, stared disinteresting at the others as they feed their eyes to the Nollywood movie playing on the big plasma TV inside the posh room. He actually look at ease among the rest, his round big eyes occasionally took a glance at the other three who sat thoughtfully away with a bored look at the screen. Lizzy stared thoughtfully at the others and then finally pushed herself up from the multi-colour sofa she was sitting.

“Time dey go.” She suddenly announced in pidgin, and glanced at her expensive Rado wristwatch. The long designer dress on her exposed her beautiful seductive shape. Gone was her former hairstyle, her flawless head now carried a beautiful crafted African hairstyle. In addition, on her slim long legs were a pair of high heel strip buckled designer shoes which added few inches more to her 5-foot posture. A careful look at her cleansed face would actually reveal a beautiful woman with a worried enthusiastic look.

“Cool down and relax your tall shape. We go soon leave.” Skinny responded, grinned and crossed his legs with a care-free attitude. He sipped his drink, and then dragged his weed.

“ Come, me too don dey tire for this place. I think the earlier we move on the safer for all of us.” Victor chipped in, and then retrieved the weed from Skinny.

He was a short guy with thick lips and strong sets of hands. He was presently dressed in flowing caftan and a local skull cap to match. Anyone could have mistaken him for one of those imposed fraudulent politicians in his rich brocade. However, a good observer would have recognized him as Victor, the smart member of the Free-Hands who had outsmarted the EFCC agents and escaped few days ago; a situation that now placed him among one of the most wanted men in the country.

“ One day, this thing wey una dey smoke any how go blow una brain and land una for big wahala.”
John Bull, dressed in an expensive blue Gucci suite suddenly complained his face more thoughtful and alert than the others.

The four were all top members of the Free-Hands and part of the roots that made up the most notorious cyber-crime syndicate in Africa. They were all ‘Flames’ waiting patiently for ‘Smoke’ to come over and give them the go ahead to embark on their long anticipated flee out of the city. The four had all been holed up in the luxury hotel for the past five days since the exciting close encounter of Victor with the EFCC operatives and the other law enforcement agents inside the banquet hall of the Mercury hotel.
What no one knew at the moment apart from the four members of the Free-Hands and their boss was how Victor had slipped through the hands of the law that night inside the Mercury hotel where he had deliberately brought them. The reconstructed exciting brave story he told his gang member was how he had smartly instigated the other security operatives against the EFCC agents that night and slipped away. He told them with a mischievous grin how he had hurried up to any available agent around and whispered to them his concocted story of a group of Niger Delta militants around with plans to kidnap the innocent Senator Bode. He said the news did not only shock most of them, but also catapulted them forward like rockets towards the senator’s table. So seizing the opportunity, he had darted across the confused hall and quickly blended with the panicked guests. He told them jokingly how he slipped through some over fed and panicked faces of some of the guests and then located a secret exit that led to a staircase that in turn brought him to another floor from where he boarded one of the elevators that surprisingly brought him face-to-face with a panicked breathing Mr. Richmond. He excitedly narrated how the panic looking Briton had stared at him with terrified eyes and hurriedly jumped into another elevator, pressed hard on the button and had sent the machine quickly to the ground floor.

Victor had casually paused at this part of his narration and burst into a long hysterical laughter before continuing in his humorous pidgin.

“ Una need to see the fear for the White man face as our eyes jam. He just dey look me with fear like zombie as if he just see devil and then quickly bail down- stairs. I nearly die with laugh, upon say I dey inside wahala myself. The guy just disappear one hand like magic.” He told the gathering and they all ruptured into long hysterical laughs.

“You mean say the guy abandon all that money for the EFCC boys” John Bull asked surprisingly with a bewildered look.

“Everything… The guy man just bail.” Victor replied still laughing. He then told them how he had taken another elevator calmly upstairs and had finally checked into one of their reserved rooms in the highbrow hotel.

“ Come, make una finish this thing and quench all this smelly scent for this room. The thing don dey chock my brain.” John Bull complained again covering his nose.

“Cool down for Jesus, my guy. Which one you dey self? Abi you be winch? na winch no dey like the smell of incense and igbo. At least Igbo still better pass that dangerous powder- cocaine, and drugs wey you dey take every day.” Victor responded with a grin. But John Bull suddenly frowned and stared wickedly at him.

“ No mind am, I beg pass me grass my brother.” Skinny chipped in, smiled as he retrieved the weed from Victor and then addressed the lady.

“Come Lizzy, relax your shape, wetin be the hurry, we go soon leave.”
He told her and smiled up at the female Flame who just stared thoughtfully away out of the window. She turned her slim shape after some seconds, sauntered back to her seat and then lit a cigarette.

“ I don dey warn you say this your big mouth go land you for trouble one day, and I swell say I go brush am well that day” John Bull hissed out angrily at Victor.

“But, true Lizzy, you no easy at all with this your dressing, e be like say you wan show dem for Tinapa.” Victor ignored him, and addressed Elizabeth instead with a mischievous grin.

They all suddenly heard a soft twist on the door handle, a sign they had all been impatiently expecting. John Bull pushed himself up and sauntered to the door. He opened the door halfway, after confirming the secret code, this he did with a returned soft tap on the door and waited for the expected response which came via a triple tap on the door from the outside. He stood aside and gave way to their cheerful looking boss who was in his trademark arm-less caftan, and cleaned shaved as usual. He wore a handmade expensive looking blue brocade material with knighted blue lines across the neck. On his feet were a black leather designer loafers and a black plastic sunshade adorned his face, hiding his bloodshot eyes as usual.
He sauntered casually into the room; his designer perfume trailed him as he moved towards one of the sofas. He smiled broadly at all of them, and then slowly dropped his frame into the sofa. He watched as Skinny dragged on his weed, inhaled, exhaled and then quietly passed it over to him. He collected the weed, dragged softly, smiled and then lit a cigarette before finally passing the half-finished weed to Victor. Because it was part of the rule at the Mercury that dogs and other pets are not allow inside the rooms. He had regretfully left his two protective beasts outside, safely canceled inside his car. Smoke as he was called and famously known across the globe had actually cursed the management silently after once trying to bribe the security guards to allow his dogs upstairs with him. A request the head of security had learnt about and had frowned down upon politely. Since then he had always kept them cancelled inside his car whenever he visited the hotel.
Meanwhile, John Bull still held the door half opened, expecting to see the two beasts sauntered after their master as usual. However, to his relief he saw none of their overfed heads. He glanced through the corridor to be sure. He saw nothing. He grinned happily and then quietly bolted the door. How he hated those dogs, he thought silently and then returned to his seat.

“ Just imagine, this people won’t allow my dogs to pay a visit upstairs . I think it is time we build a five star hotel, something bigger than this where dogs and other protective pets are allowed to lodge in the same room or floors with their owners. It is good for security purpose or what do you think Bull.? Smoke asked jovially, staring at John Bull with a grin.

“ Well, that kind of hotel is not for me, boss. Count me out among the guests.” John Bull replied, chuckling with laughter.

“Hey!Sisi, what is the occasion? You are looking like one of those women I see only in Paris Fashion shows,” Smoke asked, pulled off his dark glasses and silently admired Lizzy with his bloodshot eyes.

“Really? ” She asked and then swaggered some few steps in a catwalk manner.” Tinapa- that is the occasion, Smoke, and I can’t wait to be there.” She announced merrily and cat walked back to her seat.

“ Okay, Tall Woman. But first, I think you need to hear the latest news.” Smoke replied still smiling, and then after a thoughtful pause announced.

“I am happy to inform you that the coast is clear for now this according to our man at the agency. It might interest you to know that those two overzealous EFCC agents have both been demoted and transferred to a rural police post somewhere in the north-east; although the hunt for Victor is still on, but nothing serious to worry about for now. The Whitman’s money is still with them, but no one really have the knowledge of the deal we had with him.”

The boss of the Free-Hands told his lieutenants happily, and dispensed himself a glass of whisky. He took a long sip, paused to light a cigarette and then continued.

“Nobody knows where Mr. Richmond is right now or what happened to him after that night. However, my guess as well as the EFCC is that the guy might have taken the next available flight out of the country. The conclusion was that he had decided to forgo his money than to be arrested and charged with money laundering.”

“ Yes, I think you’re right. The way I saw him that night showed a panicked man that was eager to get out of the hotel forever. I want to believe that the Oyinbo man right now is back home safe and counting his loss.’ Victor chipped in with his mischievous grin.

“ So, we are in the clear on that one for the moment. It was a deal we should have forgone, but we were already on it and it was logical that we followed it to the end. Anyway, it is now a thing of the past. Our next situation is the other white man – Ken Solo or what is that is name again?” Smoke asked and puffed away at his cigarette.

“Kenneth Edward Solomon, CEO- Shares.com.” Skinny informed the gathering loudly with a proud broad smile.

“ Yes, Kenneth Solomon- our big hit. Right now we have his money safely in the banks, but anything could still happen within some couple of days, weeks or months. So we must not take any chances for now.” Smoke told the gathering with a broad smile and then continued.

“The fact that we have not heard from him should be a warning sign to us. We should always anticipate a surprise from a silent enemy. We must always assume that he might be silently planning to do something. No sane man would fold his hands and just cry over the lost of that huge amount of money to some faceless smart guys just like that.”

“How much is the overall hit so far” John Bull asked casually, refining his glass with whisky. Smoke stared thoughtfully at him and then smiled up at Skinny.

“Over to you Skinny, please give us the figure.’ He directed with a grin.
Skinny smiled up proudly, picked his ipad and scanned through the system for some information from various bank statements. A lighted cigarette dangled freely on his lips as he went through the statements through the internet.

“Gentlemen and lady” He finally announced, paused and scanned the faces with a happy smile.

“It is my pleasure to announce to all shareholders present at our Annual General Meeting here…” He paused once again as they all laughed at his joke and then continued.

“Yes, as I was saying. It is my pleasure to inform you that we have so far been able to net the sum of two hundred million US dollars ($200 million). That is roughly N72 billion naira in Naija currency, this from our American business ‘Mugu’ Mr. Kenneth Edward Solomon.”

Skinny announced, smartly omitting the $20 million he had secretly cornered for himself from the group.He then smiled up at John Bull, Lizzy, and Victor who all stared flabbergasted at him, excluding Smoke who already knew the amount first hand. But unaware that $20 million was missing from the actual jackpot.

“Jesus! Two hundred million dollars, - billion naija naira, Wow! “Liz suddenly exclaimed with shock written all over her pretty face.

“Yes, Tall Woman, in crispy American dollars, and resting peacefully in five reputable banks in the country.” Skinny announced proudly as his fingers scrolled the screen of his iPad with ease. ‘’ We are now in the same league with Emmanuel Nwude, his own hit was $242 million,’’

He added proudly and grinned at all and sundry, excited that the gang almost broke the record of Nigerian prominent fraudster, Emmanuel Nwude who successfully defrauded a Brazilian, Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director at Brazil’s Banco Noroeste, of a staggering sum of $242 million. The scam is ranked as one of the biggest scams in the world.

“Give them the hot news” Smoke commanded with a glazed look.

“Yes, the hot news. Lady and gentlemen, the hot and happy news is that we are making an interest rate of 7.75% on every N10 million naira for every 30 days of every month the money remains in the bank on a fix deposit. That is about N775, 000 every month.’’

Again, Skinny being the financial savvy whiz kid of the group, cunningly outsmarted them by removing 10% from the actual percentage of 8.75% for himself. He gave them all the bank terminology just to confuse them the more.
He paused, sipped his drink, smirk his lips, smiled up proudly at the room and then continued. ‘’Never the less, as we continue to wait patiently for the heat to cool down and the money lay more eggs in the banks, I am happy to announce the hottest news of the evening.’’ He paused again to light a cigarette, smiled proudly at all the curious faces and then ride on.

‘’ The hottest good news at the moment is that we still have (N50 million), fifty million naira left in raw cash from our deal with the British gentleman, Mr.Albert Richmond in our hands to burn and Jolly our lives at Tinapa or anywhere else we decide to go within the country,’’

The other gang members, except Smoke, stared happily at him as if he had just announced a ticket to heaven for all of them. Lizzy, Victor and John Bull mesmerized by the large sum of money visualized the stark of crispy American dollars lying abundantly in various bank vaults and regretted that they could not lay their itchy fingers on the bunch of notes immediately. But all the same they all beamed with smiles and listened more attentively to him as he continued.

‘’ But, like I said, the $200 million is sleeping peacefully in our accounts till the heat settles down. But right now we have N50 million naira in fresh dollars to tickle our lives’’ Skinny announced finally, and rise up his glass. “So, I want to propose a toast.”

Lizzy, John Bull, and Victor all gazed at him with shock. They could not hide their joy as they quickly rise up their half filled glasses to his toast.

“ This toast is to happiness, a toast to always remind us that we work hard with our brains for this money, abi no be so? Skinny asked the gathering with an exaggerated look.

“ Na so!!!” They all chorused and toasted happily among each other, clicking their glasses with excitement.

“Again, this toast is for our protection against the forces of progress and any obstacle that might stumble on our paths to success and enjoyment” Skinny continued with a prayerful tone. They all chorused the same after him happily.




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